Nieve set for Tour de France debut

Mikel Nieve will as anticipated get his Tour de France bow in 2013, and is set to lead the team in his maiden Grand Boucle.

BiciCiclismo claim to know the 28-year-old's calendar, which is also set to include an appearance at the Vuelta a España later in the year. Nieve, who's developed into something of a Grand Tour specialist through his stage and general classification heroics in the Giro and the Vuelta the last three years, will of course build his season around the biggest race on the planet, and is likely to lead the team outright in the absence of the Giro-bound Samuel Sánchez and the Vuelta-bound Igor Antón.

One-week stage races like the Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya are also races he'll aim to shine in in the coming season.

Calendar for the first part of the year:

• 3-6 of February: Challenge Mallorca/6-10 of February: Tour Méditerranéen
• 17-21 of February: Vuelta a Andalucía
• 3-10 of March: Paris-Nice
• 18-24 of March: Volta a Catalunya
• 30 of March: Gran Premio Miguel Indurain
• 10-14 of April: Vuelta a Castilla y León
• 23-28 of April: Tour de Romandie